20 



[January, 1909. 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



POTENTIALITIES OF PLANTAIN 

 MEAL. 



One of the greatest drawbacks to the 

 economic development of India is that 

 most of her potential industries are 

 permitted to lie dormant till such time 

 as foreign capital may happen to be 

 introduced to work them. It is not 

 because there is not sufficient capital 

 in the country, but because the owners 

 prefer to hoard or invest it in securities 

 that cannot yield anything like the 

 return a well-managed industry would 

 be likely to do. To some extent this 

 lack of enterprise is due to ignorance 

 as to what industries hitherto uuex- 

 ploited would be likely to turn out 

 profitable, but it is more frequently 

 attributable to lack of initiative and 

 disinclination to assume the role of 

 the pioneer. Prom time to time we 

 have drawn attention to what we believe 

 to be suitable openings for Indian trade ; 

 and, amongst other minor industries, 

 to the manufacture of banana or plan- 

 tain meal. The flour of the plantain, 

 under the name of "Bananine" and 

 "Banaharina" has been manufactured 

 for several years in Central America 

 and the West Indies, It is produced 

 from partly ripe fruit by removing the 

 skins, drying the edible portion and 

 reducing it to powder in a grinding 

 machine- The average weight of fruit 

 required to produce 1 cwt. of flour is 

 5 cwt., that is a yield of 20 per cent. 

 In the Indian Trade Journal of January 

 17th we mentioned that a company had 

 been started in Loudon to manufacture 

 banana flour for bread, banana oats 

 for porridge, banana custard powder, 

 banana cocoa, banana cake and pastry 

 flour, banana blanc mange powder, 

 banana jelly powder, banana health 

 salts, etc, and it may have struck 

 readers as curious that capital should 

 be forthcoming for such a purpose in 

 a country where the fruit does not 

 grow, while in India, where the cultiva- 

 tion of the plantain is universal, enter- 

 prise of this kind on any considerable 

 scale is practically non-existent. There 

 may or may not be good reason for 

 this ; but the fact remains that for 

 years past the health-giving and sustain- 

 ing properties of banana meal have 

 been known not only in civilized coun- 

 tries, but also amongst the natives of 

 South Africa, and presumably there is 

 room for it in the list of the world's 

 edible products. The late Sir H. M. 

 Stanley, during his equatorial travels, 

 was so struck with the value of this 



product, that he expressed the opinion 

 that, if only its virtues were publicly 

 known, it would be laigely consumed 

 in Europe, especially by children and 

 persons of delicate digestion. 



There are a few scattered concerns 

 in India, e.g., at Saharanpur, where 

 plantain meal is manufactured in a 

 small way, but practically nothing seems 

 to have been done to produce it on a 

 large scale, and with such machinery 

 as will turn it out in commercial 

 quantities at the lowest possible cost. 

 A European firm at Calicut, which has 

 lately been examining the possibilities 

 of this industry, has favoured us with 

 a sample of banana meal prepared by it. 

 This sample Mr. Hooper, of the Indian 

 Museum, has very kindly analysed for 

 us with the following result :— 



Moisture ... ... ... 11*15 



Pat -75 



Albuminoids 8 '81 



Carbohydrates ... ... 81-29 



Pibre "90 



Ash 2-60 



100-00 



" This analysis discloses," says Mr. 

 Hooper, " a starchy food with a small 

 amount of nitrogen and very little 

 fibrous matter. It is quite free from 

 tannin, which is found in some samples 

 as banana flour, and should be very 

 digestible. Its composition is similar to 

 that of the flour made from bananas in 

 America, as the analyses of samples from 

 Jamaica and Venezuela will show : — 



J 



amaica. 



Venezuela, 



Moisture 



15-00 



14-9 



Pat ... _ ... 



1-14 



•5 



Albuminoids 



3-27 



2-9 



Carbohydrates 



73-92 



77-9 



Pibre 



4-90 



1'6 



A$h 



1-96 



2-2 





99-99 



100-0 



" The Calicut product, it will be seen, 

 compares very favourably with other 

 meals in containing no tannin. Banana 

 meal as an article of food, according to 

 its analysis, occupies an intermediate 

 position between the cereal flowers and 

 arrowroot starches which should recom- 

 mend it especially for infants and 

 invalids." 



In Venezuela, we believe, the retail 

 price is about 5 as. for 1 lb. packages, 

 but in Calcutta the retail price for the 

 same weight of plantain flour is rather 

 high, viz.^ Re. 1 ; but if more attention 



